On Saturday afternoon my 6 year old son Cameron and I went for a little skate downtown. We were heading to the very popular Peace Bridge to get a shot of Cameron on his skateboard in the middle of the bridge. However, when we got there the wind was blowing like crazy and it was kind of a bad scene. We decided to hit the streets in search of a new spot to shoot a photo. We found a spot with smooth cement, places to leave our gear and set up our cameras with very little interruption from passerbyers.

Not only did we shoot photos, but we were also rolling video on the whole thing for my vlog. I didn’t realize how many times I had Cam push off on his skateboard for the photo until I was going over the video footage at home. I didn’t count how many times he did it, but it was a at least 30 times! For a 6 year old to have that kind of patience on a photo shoot is amazing. I also noticed he took direction very well. I was super impressed by all of this at the time, but even more so after the fact. I think he’d make a good little actor or model if he wanted to go down that road. For now I think we’ll just stick to the skateboarding though ;).

Time flies when you’re having fun. I took pictures of Violet for her 2nd, 3rd, 4th and now 5th birthday! When her mom Amanda texted me about doing the photos I could hardly believe it had already been another year! I still can’t believe it. Anyhow, Violet was a super fun as she always is and was more chatty and funny than last year. Seeing how Violet has changed over the years has been amazing and having the pleasure to take her picture each time has been an honour. Thanks for hanging with me you two! 😉

All photos shot with a Canon 5D Mark iii with a 50mm 1.4 & 135L

Some photos shot with a 580EX ii Speedlite shot into a white shoot through umbrella.

I did a photo shoot with this lovely young woman over the weekend. If you’re a regular to this blog then you might recognize Tamilla from a recent wedding I shot. And also her engagement photos before that. Anyhow, Tamilla needed some photos for her website, so we made our way around some indoor locations (because it’s freezing in Calgary right now) and shot some photos.

You can see Tamilla’s wedding photos HERE and her engagement photos HERE.

I also put together a little 15 second video clip for Instagram from the photo shoot. It’s here if you want to check that out too. 🙂

My wife Michelle needed a head shot for something or other, so I took this picture of her yesterday. The lighting set up I used consisted of 3 Canon Speedlites. I had one 580EX ii to camera right shot into a white bounce umbrella, one 580EX ii to camera left shot into a smaller white bounce umbrella and one 580EX point down from above for a hair light.

I have wanted to shoot this photo for a while now. This little public park is at one of the train stations downtown. One day when I got off the train at this stop I was checking out these iron art pieces. The idea for this photo came to me soon after that visit. The reason it took me so long to get this shot is it was quite the production and a bit of hassle to get. I had to pack up my camera with a few different lenses (incase 50mm didn’t look right), flashes, flash triggers, 2 light stands and a tripod. As you can image, walking around with this much gear isn’t exactly a good time haha. Anyhow, I’m glad I finally got the shot, because it is exactly how I pictured it in my mind.

The set up for this shot was 2 Canon 580EX ii’s behind the horse. I set the flashes 2 stops over and shot the photo about 2 stops under.

On Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting Nooreen and Imran. I am shooting their wedding this summer and they came down to Calgary from Edmonton to wrap up some details for the wedding and shoot their engagement photos with me. On sunday it was crazy windy in Calgary and we chose our locations based on that. We would shoot a photo in one spot outside, then run in a building and shoot one in there to escape the wind and to warm up! haha. Then back outside to the least windy places we could find. This style of location decisions isn’t ideal, but it was fun! Both Noreen and Imran are super easy going and fun to be around. We shared many laughs together and I even got see them dance! You know it’s a good day when your dancing in the street :).

All photos shot with a Canon 6D & 17-40L, 28mm 1.8, 50mm 1.4 & 135L. I used a 580exii shot though a white shoot through umbrella in a few of the shots.

If you’re a hockey fan than you probably know the Calgary Flames have made the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs! And if your from Calgary, you know we are playing our arch rivals the Vancouver Canucks in the first round. So to kick things off right around here I had to let it be known how it’s going down. We’ll be burning those bastards up from the first puck drop! 😀

Now about the photo. I had my Canon 6D set up on a tripod and triggered the camera with my Canon RC-1 remote. I had another tripod to camera left with a Canon 580EX ii pointing at me. Since I am originally from Vancouver, I had a jersey collecting dust in my closet. I didn’t actually burn the jersey though, for 2 reasons. One, I’m from Vancouver and still like that jersey haha. And 2, it was really windy and even if I could get the jersey to burn the flames wouldn’t have gone straight up and effect wouldn’t be nearly as dramatic. After I did the initial edit of the photo I photoshopped in the flames burning the jersey.

I expect to take a lot of flack from all my Vancouver friends and family over this picture haha. But I’ve been in Calgary for 3 years now and I started backing up this team the day I got here. As soon as that first hockey season started 3 years ago I was a straight up traitor Calgary Flame. For me it’s all about the home team and this is my home now. GO FLAMES!

I did an Engagement shoot on Tuesday with this fun couple, Caroline & Danny. We met at nice look out spot of the city, unfortunately it was a rather hazy day in Calgary. I wasn’t to worried about the haze thought, since the pictures are about them and not the city ;). It was also cold! We powered throughout the cold weather and walked down to the Centre Street Bridge and shot a few photos there. After the bridge we decided heading to an indoor spot might be a better idea and that is where we spent the rest of our time.

At our indoor location the lighting was just awful! 2 different harsh colours of light, one a crazy yellowy / orange and the other that kind of bluey / white colour (like hospital lighting). For the indoor shots I used one Canon 580EX ii shot into a white bounce umbrella. The flash did a pretty good job of sorting out the crazy colour cast on Caroline & Danny, however the background was still mess and I had to fiddle around with the white balance and colour corrector tools quite a bit in the post. Even though the lighting was a pain, I rather enjoyed the warmth! :).

Yesterday I decided it was a good day to take a picture of my younger son Cammy. He is always a good sport when it comes to getting his picture taken, so this shot didn’t take to long :).

The picture on the right just shows the set up I used for this photo. I had a Canon 580EX ii Speedlite shooting into that white bounce umbrella. I was using that heavy Manfrotto tripod instead of a light stand so the wind wouldn’t tip the set up over (I have had that happen before). I triggered the flash with Yongnuo YN-622C transmitters.

I don’t know what the weather is like where you live, but here in Calgary, Canada it is still winter! Yesterday it was snowing all day and I didn’t dare go outside haha. So I grabbed these shoes and practised some product photography. The set up was 2 Canon 580EX ii Speedlites shot into white bounce umbrellas to camera life and right. The flashes were triggered by Younguo YN-622C Wireless Flash Triggers. The shoes are woman’s Nike Dual Fusion Trainers. They are pretty cool looking shoes if you ask me.

Oh and no, they are not mine by the way haha. I bought them for my wife on Friday :).

It was insanely cold in Calgary yesterday, so rather than brave the Canadian elements I’d opted to make it an In-Day. My 2 sons and I decided shooting some photos in the basement would be a fun time and was it ever! We had some laughs, jumps and only one person got hurt! haha. Both boys fell down together and my older son Joshua hit his face on a light stand, ouch! He was trooper though and keep on with the shoot. He’s got a little bruise on his right cheek as a result, but he’s good :).

Today felt like a good day to shoot a little off camera flash. My son was outside playing with some of his friends so I decided to get them to do some jumps for me :). I set up 3 flashes, one 580EX ii as my main, a 550EX on the side and another 550EX from a little bellow. I grabbed a quick picture of the set up with my phone before the jumping started.

I was shooting from where the backpack on the grass is. I triggered my flashes with a set of 4 Yongnuo 622C E-TTL wireless flash triggers